Korean hopes and expectations for the new Pope
Seoul (AsiaNews) The great turnout for the thanksgiving mass celebrated on April 25 in Seoul Cathedral and the interest shown by Korean media are proof of the interest and affection with which the Korean Church followed the election of the Pope.
The Korean Church was symbolically present in Rome's St Peter's Square with 83-year-old Cardinal Stephen Kim who had the honour of giving the Fisherman's Ring to the successor of Peter and with a young Korean couple who with their toddler greeted Benedict XVI on behalf of all the families in the world.
These are signs that the new Pope has a predilection for the Church and people of Korea, this according to Fr Stephen Han Young-man, who is a member of the governing board of the country's Bishops' Conference.
"In John Paul II's latest book Rise, Let Us be On Our Way," Father Han said, "the Korean Church is designated as a hope for Asia. He is right."
In 1978, the year of Cardinal Woityła's election there were 1,160,000 Catholics in South Korea; now, there are more than 4,000,000.
"There are many signs showing the new Pontiff will continue the work of his predecessor," the priest said. "But there is more. Perhaps more than any other Pope, Benedict XVI can relate to the suffering of the divided Korean people for he too lived in a country divided by force".
Son Byon-tuk, president of the Laity Council, spoke during the Cathedral service and expressed everyone's hope to see the Pope visit Korea soon. Father Han also hopes to see the Pope come to Korea but for pastoral reasons.
"The Church is going through a period of dangerous stagnation," he said. "It has well established her institutions and is committed to her tasks but the number of conversions has significantly dropped and the average age of the faithful is rising here as elsewhere. We must rethink our pastoral work vis-à-vis the young and the new Pontiff is particularly close to them".
Korean media had widely discusses John Paul's pontificate at the time of his death and has worked hard to present Benedict XVI and his programme.
In Korea too the image of Cardinal Ratzinger as an intransigent and doctrinaire man was widespread, but by focusing on his speeches and ideas, it is the secular media that is undermining if not doing away with that cliché.
"The new Pope," writes the liberal daily Hangyore, "has shown he is not inflexible and doctrinaire for he is committed to dialogue with other civilisations and to implementing the reforms started by his predecessors".
To this effect a passage from his homily to the cardinals has elicited great interest: "I speak to each of you with simplicity and affection and assure you that the Church wants to continue an open and sincere dialogue with them [other civilisations] to search the true welfare of humanity and society".
"The new Pope urges humanity to come back to God," says an editorial writer in The Korea Herald, "to change the world by leading men out of the desert of suffering and poverty".
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12/02/2016 15:14
14/04/2005
